READ STUDY GUIDE: Act I, Scenes i-ii |
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Act I, Scene ii:
Troy. A street
Troy. A street
| [Enter CRESSIDA and her man ALEXANDER.] |
| CRESSIDA.: |
| Who were those went by? |
| ALEXANDER.: |
| Queen Hecuba and Helen. |
| CRESSIDA.: |
| And whither go they? |
| ALEXANDER.: |
| Up to the eastern tower, |
| Whose height commands as subject all the vale, |
| To see the battle. Hector, whose patience |
| Is as a virtue fix'd, to-day was mov'd. |
| He chid Andromache, and struck his armourer; |
| And, like as there were husbandry in war, |
| Before the sun rose he was harness'd light, |
| And to the field goes he; where every flower |
| Did as a prophet weep what it foresaw |
| In Hector's wrath. |
| CRESSIDA.: |
| What was his cause of anger? |
| ALEXANDER.: |
| The noise goes, this: there is among the Greeks |
| A lord of Troyan blood, nephew to Hector; |
| They call him Ajax. |
| CRESSIDA.: |
| Good; and what of him? |
| ALEXANDER.: |
| They say he is a very man per se, |
| And stands alone. |
| CRESSIDA.: |
| So do all men, unless they are drunk, sick, or have no legs. |
| ALEXANDER.: |
| This man, lady, hath robb'd many beasts of their particular |
| additions: he is as valiant as a lion, churlish as the bear, slow |
| as the elephant—a man into whom nature hath so crowded |
| humours that his valour is crush'd into folly, his folly sauced |
| with discretion. There is no man hath a virtue that he hath not a |
| glimpse of, nor any man an attaint but he carries some stain of |
| it; he is melancholy without cause and merry against the hair; he |
| hath the joints of every thing; but everything so out of joint |
| that he is a gouty Briareus, many hands and no use, or purblind |
| Argus, all eyes and no sight. |
| CRESSIDA.: |
| But how should this man, that makes me smile, make Hector |
| angry? |
| ALEXANDER.: |
| They say he yesterday cop'd Hector in the battle and |
| struck him down, the disdain and shame whereof hath ever since |
| kept Hector fasting and waking. |
| [Enter PANDARUS.] |
| CRESSIDA.: |
| Who comes here? |
| ALEXANDER.: |
| Madam, your uncle Pandarus. |
| CRESSIDA.: |
| Hector's a gallant man. |
| ALEXANDER.: |
| As may be in the world, lady. |
| PANDARUS.: |
| What's that? What's that? |
| CRESSIDA.: |
| Good morrow, uncle Pandarus. |
| PANDARUS.: |
| Good morrow, cousin Cressid. What do you talk of?—Good |
| morrow, Alexander.—How do you, cousin? When were you at Ilium? |
| CRESSIDA.: |
| This morning, uncle. |
| PANDARUS.: |
| What were you talking of when I came? Was Hector arm'd |
| and gone ere you came to Ilium? Helen was not up, was she? |
| CRESSIDA.: |
| Hector was gone; but Helen was not up. |
| PANDARUS.: |
| E'en so. Hector was stirring early. |
| CRESSIDA.: |
| That were we talking of, and of his anger. |
| PANDARUS.: |
| Was he angry? |
| CRESSIDA.: |
| So he says here. |
| PANDARUS.: |
| True, he was so; I know the cause too; he'll lay about |
| him today, I can tell them that. And there's Troilus will not |
| come far behind him; let them take heed of Troilus, I can tell |
| them that too. |
| CRESSIDA.: |
| What, is he angry too? |
| PANDARUS.: |
| Who, Troilus? Troilus is the better man of the two. |
| CRESSIDA.: |
| O Jupiter! there's no comparison. |
| PANDARUS.: |
| What, not between Troilus and Hector? Do you know a man |
| if you see him? |
| CRESSIDA.: |
| Ay, if I ever saw him before and knew him. |
| PANDARUS.: |
| Well, I say Troilus is Troilus. |
| CRESSIDA.: |
| Then you say as I say, for I am sure he is not Hector. |
| PANDARUS.: |
| No, nor Hector is not Troilus in some degrees. |
| CRESSIDA.: |
| 'Tis just to each of them: he is himself. |
| PANDARUS.: |
| Himself! Alas, poor Troilus! I would he were! |
| CRESSIDA.: |
| So he is. |
| PANDARUS.: |
| Condition I had gone barefoot to India. |
| CRESSIDA.: |
| He is not Hector. |
| PANDARUS.: |
| Himself! no, he's not himself. Would 'a were himself! |
| Well, the gods are above; time must friend or end. Well, Troilus, |
| well! I would my heart were in her body! No, Hector is not a |
| better man than Troilus. |
| CRESSIDA.: |
| Excuse me. |
| PANDARUS.: |
| He is elder. |
| CRESSIDA.: |
| Pardon me, pardon me. |
| PANDARUS.: |
| Th' other's not come to't; you shall tell me another tale |
| when th' other's come to't. Hector shall not have his wit this |
| year. |
| CRESSIDA.: |
| He shall not need it if he have his own. |
| ANDARUS.: |
| Nor his qualities. |
| CRESSIDA.: |
| No matter. |
| PANDARUS.: |
| Nor his beauty. |
| CRESSIDA.: |
| 'Twould not become him: his own's better. |
| PANDARUS.: |
| You have no judgment, niece. Helen herself swore th' |
| other day that Troilus, for a brown favour, for so 'tis, I must |
| confess—not brown neither— |
| CRESSIDA.: |
| No, but brown. |
| PANDARUS.: |
| Faith, to say truth, brown and not brown. |
| CRESSIDA.: |
| To say the truth, true and not true. |
| PANDARUS.: |
| She prais'd his complexion above Paris. |
| CRESSIDA.: |
| Why, Paris hath colour enough. |
| PANDARUS.: |
| So he has. |
| CRESSIDA.: |
| Then Troilus should have too much. If she prais'd him |
| above, his complexion is higher than his; he having colour |
| enough, and the other higher, is too flaming praise for a good |
| complexion. I had as lief Helen's golden tongue had commended |
| Troilus for a copper nose. |
| PANDARUS.: |
| I swear to you I think Helen loves him better than Paris. |
| CRESSIDA.: |
| Then she's a merry Greek indeed. |
| PANDARUS.: |
| Nay, I am sure she does. She came to him th' other day |
| into the compass'd window—and you know he has not past three or |
| four hairs on his chin— |
| CRESSIDA.: |
| Indeed a tapster's arithmetic may soon bring his |
| particulars therein to a total. |
| PANDARUS.: |
| Why, he is very young, and yet will he within three pound |
| lift as much as his brother Hector. |
| CRESSIDA.: |
| Is he so young a man and so old a lifter? |
| PANDARUS.: |
| But to prove to you that Helen loves him: she came and |
| puts me her white hand to his cloven chin— |
| CRESSIDA.: |
| Juno have mercy! How came it cloven? |
| PANDARUS.: |
| Why, you know, 'tis dimpled. I think his smiling becomes |
| him better than any man in all Phrygia. |
| CRESSIDA.: |
| O, he smiles valiantly! |
| PANDARUS.: |
| Does he not? |
| CRESSIDA.: |
| O yes, an 'twere a cloud in autumn! |
| PANDARUS.: |
| Why, go to, then! But to prove to you that Helen loves |
| Troilus— |
| CRESSIDA.: |
| Troilus will stand to the proof, if you'll prove it so. |
| PANDARUS.: |
| Troilus! Why, he esteems her no more than I esteem an |
| addle egg. |
| CRESSIDA.: |
| If you love an addle egg as well as you love an idle |
| head, you would eat chickens i' th' shell. |
| PANDARUS.: |
| I cannot choose but laugh to think how she tickled his |
| chin. Indeed, she has a marvell's white hand, I must needs |
| confess. |
| CRESSIDA.: |
| Without the rack. |
| PANDARUS.: |
| And she takes upon her to spy a white hair on his chin. |
| CRESSIDA.: |
| Alas, poor chin! Many a wart is richer. |
| PANDARUS.: |
| But there was such laughing! Queen Hecuba laugh'd that |
| her eyes ran o'er. |
| CRESSIDA.: |
| With millstones. |
| PANDARUS.: |
| And Cassandra laugh'd. |
| CRESSIDA.: |
| But there was a more temperate fire under the pot of her |
| eyes. Did her eyes run o'er too? |
| PANDARUS.: |
| And Hector laugh'd. |
| CRESSIDA.: |
| At what was all this laughing? |
| PANDARUS.: |
| Marry, at the white hair that Helen spied on Troilus' |
| chin. |
| CRESSIDA.: |
| An't had been a green hair I should have laugh'd too. |
| PANDARUS.: |
| They laugh'd not so much at the hair as at his pretty |
| answer. |
| CRESSIDA.: |
| What was his answer? |
| PANDARUS.: |
| Quoth she 'Here's but two and fifty hairs on your chin, |
| and one of them is white.' |
| CRESSIDA.: |
| This is her question. |
| PANDARUS.: |
| That's true; make no question of that. 'Two and fifty |
| hairs,' quoth he 'and one white. That white hair is my father, |
| and all the rest are his sons.' 'Jupiter!' quoth she 'which of |
| these hairs is Paris my husband?' 'The forked one,' quoth he, |
| 'pluck't out and give it him.' But there was such laughing! and |
| Helen so blush'd, and Paris so chaf'd; and all the rest so |
| laugh'd that it pass'd. |
| CRESSIDA.: |
| So let it now; for it has been a great while going by. |
| PANDARUS.: |
| Well, cousin, I told you a thing yesterday; think on't. |
| CRESSIDA.: |
| So I do. |
| PANDARUS.: |
| I'll be sworn 'tis true; he will weep you, and 'twere a |
| man born in April. |
| CRESSIDA.: |
| And I'll spring up in his tears, an 'twere a nettle |
| against May. |
| [Sound a retreat.] |
| PANDARUS.: |
| Hark! they are coming from the field. Shall we stand up |
| here and see them as they pass toward Ilium? Good niece, do, |
| sweet niece Cressida. |
| CRESSIDA.: |
| At your pleasure. |
| PANDARUS.: |
| Here, here, here's an excellent place; here we may see |
| most bravely. I'll tell you them all by their names as they pass |
| by; but mark Troilus above the rest. |
| [AENEAS passes.] |
| CRESSIDA.: |
| Speak not so loud. |
| PANDARUS.: |
| That's Aeneas. Is not that a brave man? He's one of the |
| flowers of Troy, I can tell you. But mark Troilus; you shall see |
| anon. |
| [ANTENOR passes.] |
| CRESSIDA.: |
| Who's that? |
| PANDARUS.: |
| That's Antenor. He has a shrewd wit, I can tell you; and |
| he's a man good enough; he's one o' th' soundest judgments in |
| Troy, whosoever, and a proper man of person. When comes Troilus? |
| I'll show you Troilus anon. If he see me, you shall see him nod |
| at me. |
| CRESSIDA.: |
| Will he give you the nod? |
| PANDARUS.: |
| You shall see. |
| CRESSIDA.: |
| If he do, the rich shall have more. |
| [HECTOR passes.] |
| PANDARUS.: |
| That's Hector, that, that, look you, that; there's a |
| fellow! Go thy way, Hector! There's a brave man, niece. O brave |
| Hector! Look how he looks. There's a countenance! Is't not a |
| brave man? |
| CRESSIDA.: |
| O, a brave man! |
| PANDARUS.: |
| Is 'a not? It does a man's heart good. Look you what |
| hacks are on his helmet! Look you yonder, do you see? Look you |
| there. There's no jesting; there's laying on; take't off who |
| will, as they say. There be hacks. |
| CRESSIDA.: |
| Be those with swords? |
| PANDARUS.: |
| Swords! anything, he cares not; an the devil come to him, |
| it's all one. By God's lid, it does one's heart good. Yonder |
| comes Paris, yonder comes Paris. |
| [PARIS passes.] |
| Look ye yonder, niece; is't not a gallant man too, is't not? Why, |
| this is brave now. Who said he came hurt home to-day? He's not |
| hurt. Why, this will do Helen's heart good now, ha! Would I could |
| see Troilus now! You shall see Troilus anon. |
| [HELENUS passes.] |
| CRESSIDA.: |
| Who's that? |
| PANDARUS.: |
| That's Helenus. I marvel where Troilus is. That's |
| Helenus. I think he went not forth to-day. That's Helenus. |
| CRESSIDA.: |
| Can Helenus fight, uncle? |
| PANDARUS.: |
| Helenus! no. Yes, he'll fight indifferent well. I marvel |
| where Troilus is. Hark! do you not hear the people cry 'Troilus'? |
| Helenus is a priest. |
| CRESSIDA.: |
| What sneaking fellow comes yonder? |
| [TROILUS passes.] |
| PANDARUS.: |
| Where? yonder? That's Deiphobus. 'Tis Troilus. There's a |
| man, niece. Hem! Brave Troilus, the prince of chivalry! |
| CRESSIDA.: |
| Peace, for shame, peace! |
| PANDARUS.: |
| Mark him; note him. O brave Troilus! Look well upon him, |
| niece; look you how his sword is bloodied, and his helm more |
| hack'd than Hector's; and how he looks, and how he goes! O |
| admirable youth! he never saw three and twenty. Go thy way, |
| Troilus, go thy way. Had I a sister were a grace or a daughter a |
| goddess, he should take his choice. O admirable man! Paris? Paris |
| is dirt to him; and, I warrant, Helen, to change, would give an |
| eye to boot. |
| CRESSIDA.: |
| Here comes more. |
| [Common soldiers pass.] |
| PANDARUS.: |
| Asses, fools, dolts! chaff and bran, chaff and bran! |
| porridge after meat! I could live and die in the eyes of Troilus. |
| Ne'er look, ne'er look; the eagles are gone. Crows and daws, |
| crows and daws! I had rather be such a man as Troilus than |
| Agamemnon and all Greece. |
| CRESSIDA.: |
| There is amongst the Greeks Achilles, a better man than |
| Troilus. |
| PANDARUS.: |
| Achilles? A drayman, a porter, a very camel! |
| CRESSIDA.: |
| Well, well. |
| PANDARUS.: |
| Well, well! Why, have you any discretion? Have you any |
| eyes? Do you know what a man is? Is not birth, beauty, good |
| shape, discourse, manhood, learning, gentleness, virtue, youth, |
| liberality, and such like, the spice and salt that season a man? |
| CRESSIDA.: |
| Ay, a minc'd man; and then to be bak'd with no date in |
| the pie, for then the man's date is out. |
| PANDARUS.: |
| You are such a woman! A man knows not at what ward you |
| lie. |
| CRESSIDA.: |
| Upon my back, to defend my belly; upon my wit, to defend |
| my wiles; upon my secrecy, to defend mine honesty; my mask, to |
| defend my beauty; and you, to defend all these; and at all these |
| wards I lie at, at a thousand watches. |
| PANDARUS.: |
| Say one of your watches. |
| CRESSIDA.: |
| Nay, I'll watch you for that; and that's one of the |
| chiefest of them too. If I cannot ward what I would not have hit, |
| I can watch you for telling how I took the blow; unless it swell |
| past hiding, and then it's past watching |
| PANDARUS.: |
| You are such another! |
| [Enter TROILUS' BOY.] |
| BOY.: |
| Sir, my lord would instantly speak with you. |
| PANDARUS.: |
| Where? |
| BOY.: |
| At your own house; there he unarms him. |
| PANDARUS.: |
| Good boy, tell him I come.Exit Boy |
| I doubt he be hurt. Fare ye well, good niece. |
| CRESSIDA.: |
| Adieu, uncle. |
| PANDARUS.: |
| I will be with you, niece, by and by. |
| CRESSIDA.: |
| To bring, uncle. |
| PANDARUS.: |
| Ay, a token from Troilus. |
| CRESSIDA.: |
| By the same token, you are a bawd. |
| [Exit PANDARUS.] |
| Words, vows, gifts, tears, and love's full sacrifice, |
| He offers in another's enterprise; |
| But more in Troilus thousand-fold I see |
| Than in the glass of Pandar's praise may be, |
| Yet hold I off. Women are angels, wooing: |
| Things won are done; joy's soul lies in the doing. |
| That she belov'd knows nought that knows not this: |
| Men prize the thing ungain'd more than it is. |
| That she was never yet that ever knew |
| Love got so sweet as when desire did sue; |
| Therefore this maxim out of love I teach: |
| Achievement is command; ungain'd, beseech. |
| Then though my heart's content firm love doth bear, |
| Nothing of that shall from mine eyes appear. |
| [Exit.] |
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